1. a person, plant, or animal that is descended from a particular ancestor: "she's a descendant of Charles Darwin"
▪ a machine, artefact, system, etc., that has developed from an earlier, more rudimentary version:"house music is a descendant of disco"
Word Originlate Middle English (as an adjective in the sense ‘descending’): from French, present participle of descendre ‘to descend’ (see descend). The noun dates from the early 17th century.